Conchas, Coloring Books, and Oxnard: Using Critical Race Counterstorytelling as a Framework to Create a Social Justice Coloring Book
Bettina Aptheker
Round 1
Reviewer 1 Report
Comments and Suggestions for Authors“Conchas, coloring books, and Oxnard: Using critical race counterstorytelling as a framework to create a social justice coloring book”
This manuscript explains how creating activist-oriented coloring books can be a form of counterstorytelling for communities of color. This is such an innovative idea for a manuscript! I would love to hear about why you chose coloring books, in particular. Is it because art is liberating? Or perhaps coloring requires less “talent” than other forms of art?
2. Majoritarian Stories
This sentence needs a citation: “It is very important to note that People of Color and other marginalized individuals believe, internalize, and even tell majoritarian stories.”
3. Counterstories
Avoid using the word “thing;” push yourself to be more specific. You say, “The thing I appreciate the most about counterstorytelling is that it allows me to provide my own interpretation and evidence of an instance or misconception.” Perhaps another way to articulate it could be: “What I most appreciate about counterstorytelling is that…”
This such an important statement. I think you should elaborate on it by explaining why engaging multiple audiences should be valued (even as this is published in a scholarly journal): “It also allows me to challenge what it means to produce knowledge and what research looks like and gives me the tool to produce research that engages both academic and non-academic audiences.”
The first three pages are a bit redundant. For example, you use “hard work pays off” twice as examples. I think you can consolidate these pages a bit.
How did you decide which designs to include? You explained the boxing picture. However, what about the picture with strawberries on it? For e xample, why have berries instead of people since it says, “Brown is beautiful.”
5. Coloring pages as counterstories
On page 6, the Malcolm X quote needs a citation.
On page 6, this sentence needs a citation: “Along these lines, more times than not, news outlets will take criminal activity and blow it out of proportion, ultimately making it seem like crime is always at an all-time high in Communities of Color, when in reality, it exists, but not in overabundance as reported.”
On page 8, when you “Only a few of us gang bang…” maybe you could contextualize that comment with a structural analysis the way that you contextualized other “negative outcomes” by explaining the opportunity structure. This will remind readers that the “choice” to join a gang is always a complicated one. This will enhance your paper since you discuss two specific gangs in the next paragraph.
Here is an article that you may consider as it relates to Latinx students and internalizing racism:
Irizarry, J. G., & Raible, J. (2014). “A hidden part of me”: Latino/a students, silencing, and the epidermalization of inferiority. Equity & Excellence in Education, 47(4), 430-444.
When you discuss the culture of poverty theory on page 9, you should include Bonilla Silva’s colorblind racism theory because he discusses “cultural racism” as one component of colorblind racism. Adding this will bolster your connection to scholarship and your therefore, enrich contribution to the literature: Bonilla-Silva, E. (2021). Racism without racists: Color-blind racism and the persistence of racial inequality in America. Rowman & Littlefield.
On page 9, you state that, “Unfortunately, a white supremacist society does not allow folks to image poor Brown kids reading for fun.” I think you mean to use the word “imagine” here.
On page 10, you write, “Therefore, this activity coloring page encourages Brown kids to find their way to the library in hopes that they will find that right book for them.” This sentence is so powerful. Perhaps you could add, “Furthermore, those Brown kids that were able to find the ‘right’ book can grow up and write the right book for the next generation of Brown kids.”
On page 10, you include specific examples of feedback. Those examples were strong and important. It is clear that the impact is undeniable so I’d like to see more. The argument of the paper seems to be that coloring books are a form of counterstorytelling. However, because you focus on your experience and not the impact (until the end), it reads more like creating coloring books are a form of counterstorytelling. If you elaborate more on the impact of coloring books as a form of counterstorytelling, your focus will align with what you propose in the beginning of the paper. To be clear, I think creating coloring books is an important approach as well. I’m just explaining that there needs to be more emphasis on the impact of the books in order to make the point that you seem to want to make, if I’m understanding you correctly.
Final Thoughts
Connect your contribution to literature. Have any other scholars discussed counterstorytelling this way? How is your study similar and different from other scholarly work? What direction do you think future work like this could go in? Reinforce your unique contribution.
Author Response
Please see the attachment.
Author Response File: 
Author Response.pdf
Reviewer 2 Report
Comments and Suggestions for AuthorsThis is a wonderful and inspiring contribution, and very much in the spirit of what I think of as transformative justice. The feelings you express for your people in Oxnard are beautiful and filled with compassion. I am a strong advocate of storytelling and what you call counterstoryteling because I think people remember stories and it touches them, and teaches all at the same time. On p. 2 lines 68-69 I suggest you list capitalism first as the generative source of these structures of oppression. It is not just another 'ism' it is the root cause. If you agree, a very easy fix. Thank you for your work
Comments on the Quality of English LanguageEnglish edits: page 1, line 30, distance myself (not distant). p. 2 line 52 should read, "made me feel like I didn't know anything, unless they intentionally wanted don't as an expression, but it changes the tense in the sentence. Page 5, line 181, should read a coloring book that reminded (not remind) the community, p. 8 line 274 should read, because many courts (not counties). This might have just been a typo.
Author Response
Please see the attachment.
Author Response File: Author Response.pdf
